Friday, October 7, 2011

Review: Sufix 832 Advanced Superline

It has taken me too long (way too long, sorry OBN and Sufix) to finally come to a conclusion. The reason it's taken so long is I kept trying to give the Superline a chance to really impress me, thinking that using it with topwater or carp fishing on the bottom or any of half a dozen other presentations would let the line shine. Unfortunately, it never really did.

I selected the high-visibility lime green option, visions of line-watching Senko-fishing dancing in my head. The problem with fishing with a high-visibility mini rope is it's just as high visibility to the fish.

Therefore, it's highly recommended that you attach a flourocarbon leader to the end of the braid. The biggest things braid has going for it are:

Strength: Even the weakest braid is several times stronger than mono or flouro of the same diameter. This really appealed to me because more often than not I'm snagged on something. I figured that with 40lb braid (same diameter of 10lb mono), I could pull any snag up to and including old tires out of the water, saving my lures and the time it takes to retie.

It floats: This, combined with the high visibility supposedly make braid a perfect candidate for fishing soft plastics, giving you a good indicator if a fish has grabbed your bait and made off with it without tugging on your rod. The buoyancy also makes braid a good topwater line.

However, having to use a flourocarbon leader negates two of the three advantages of using braid. the strength of your setup is lowered to whatever poundage flouro you use (plus you have to tie another knot to connect the two, adding another point of weakness to your setup.).

I found myself getting snagged and snapping the line somewhere along the leader, which would usually require that I cut the braid, cut a new leader, tie the leader to the braid, and then tie on a new lure. Compared to using mono or flouro, where you just tie on a new lure, it's not a very time efficient way to do things. There were a couple times I was using a topwater lure and could tie the braid directly to the lure. When I would snag in these cases, it was nice to be able to drag the snag out most of the time. If you can't though, you'll probably have to cut your line. (Or risk having sharp hooks flying at your face at roughly the speed of sound.)

Also, flourocarbon sinks. I don't know how much this depletes the advantage of being able to see your line since I was never able to "see" a bite. The only fish I caught on this line were caught after "feeling" the bite.

This may or may not have anything to do with the line itself but I've only experienced it with the Sufix Superline. The line seems to... catch on the eyelets of my pole. So my cast will get halfway to where I want it, will catch and PLOP! into the water, leaving six inches or so of line dangling and tangled between my second and third or third and fourth eyelets. I have to take a second to fix that so any bite I may have noticed on the fall is long gone. I'll be spooling up the Pflueger reel that I was using with the Sufix line with regular mono and using it a few times before reviewing the reel itself so I'll come back and edit this if I find out it was a problem with the reel or pole and not the line.

So all in all I don't think I can recommend Sufix Superline, especially not for beginning anglers. The advantages gained are not worth the hassle of having to tie on a leader and deal with the casting issues I've dealt with. The only reason I'd recommend this line to family, friend, or some guy in the fishing line aisle is if they're using it strictly for topwater presentations. Even then, a heavier monofilament line will do the trick so... why bother? I really wanted to be impressed with this product and write a glowing review but in the end I was pretty disappointed. Stick with mono and save yourself some grief.

Disclaimer: I was given the Superline free of charge to try out and give an honest opinion. I received no other compensation. All opinions are my own and not influenced by the makers of Sufix (obviously).

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

First off, you do not need a leader at the end. That is biggest pile of crap every heaped onto the fishing community. Me and my buddies have been throwing braid for years and fish some of the clearest water you will find on the planet, and we do not use a leader. Can the fish see the line? maybe, but it does not hurt our success at all. If the fish can see the line, how do they know it is line and it is a danger to them? We give fish way too much credit. I am a HUGE fan of Sufix superline as it is the only super line I will use. Me and my clients have enjoyed it for years. What pound test were you t throwing? And on a spinning reel or casting reel?

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog Jonn, I appreciate your input.

The line was 40lb test and on a spinning reel (a spinning reel that was marketed as "braid ready!").

I probably should have tried without a leader but I didn't know anybody in person with braid experience to point me in that direction and everywhere you look online seems to suggest using a leader unless you are fishing topwater baits. I'll have to give it another shot sometime.